Saint2 : I have always had my suspicion about Barbie dolls. They sort of remind me of the insidious blubber-like Teletubbies!May 28, 2008TWEEN SCENE: COVER STORYWhere's my little girl gone?Some pre-teen girls dress and behave beyond their years. Experts tell MYB why it worries them when tweens become too sexualised

Nowadays, it seems that it's never too young to be sexy. Even tweens - children between eight and 12 years old - are being bombarded by product and media images of women who are slim, svelte and pouty.

She added: 'On television and in magazines in Singapore, we see a lot of tall, attractive, fair-skinned people with Pan-Asian looks. There's pressure on tweens to attain that facade and when or if they don't, they think they're a failure.'

Ms M Gigi Durham, associate professor of journalism and mass communication at the University of Iowa, said: 'Part of it is that sexuality is a key aspect of marketing a variety of products, especially to girls, like cosmetics, diet aids and fashion.

'Marketers have figured out that they can cultivate consumers and keep them longer by targeting them at young ages. Pushing the goal of 'hotness' onto tweens orients them to these products very early.'

Many products like make-up, clothes and toys which target tweens and young teens seem to package the adult premise of sex in cute candy colours, persuading little girls to totter around in high heels and mini-skirts.

The media is being blamed too. Ms Durham has written a book, The Lolita Effect, which explores the increasing media sexualisation of tween girls.

Lolita was the sexually precocious 12-year-old character called Dolores Haze in Russian-born novelist Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 book of that title. The term has since been used in pop culture to refer to sexually aware little girls.

'Girls are influenced by the media to view their bodies judgmentally, to see sexual desirability as a life goal and to buy into the consumerism at the root of this media sexualisation of girls,' Ms Durham said.

A backlash - of sorts - has started against this sexualisation of young girls in the United States.

The star of Disney's billion-dollar franchise Hannah Montana, 15-year-old Miley Cyrus, whose fan base consists mainly of tweens, was recently embroiled in controversy over sexually suggestive photos of her published in the June issue of Vanity Fair.

Ms van Auer argues that Singapore is not immune to the Lolita effect. The top 10 television programmes for girls aged eight to 12 years old on Kids Central here last year include Bratz, Barbie As The Island Princess and High School Musical.

She feels that tweens who are constantly fed idealised images of beautiful, slim women can suffer from lower self-esteem and a negative body image, that is, how we perceive our own body.

KK Women's and Children's Hospital's principal psychologist in the psychology service Ms Frances Yeo, echoes this view. She said: 'These days, children and adolescents are more exposed to media like movies, video and computer games and the Internet.

'These media often convey images of ideal attractiveness and body shapes, which can be unrealistic.'